27 Aug 1879
Page 1
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This newspaper page contains 14 articles. Subscribers can read the full text of each article.
Newspaper
Branford Gleaner
Location
Branford, Connecticut, United States of America
Date
Aug 27, 1879
Page
1
A Cornhill Magazine excerpt reflects on a fractured harmony and fading love. The speaker contrasts light memories with a dead melody and the faint hope that forgotten tones may awaken in old emotions.
The Erie canal boats number about five thousand, carrying a canal population of roughly fifty thousand with captains living aboard along with two steersmen and two drivers. Boats run to New York, Buffalo, or Albany and many lie at piers during summer, forming a moving, watery community. Modern canalboats are about 100 feet long, with cabins at the stern and small living spaces filled with photos, flowers, and awnings. Horses and mules live on board, with water scarce and drinking water fetched from pier ice. Canalboats cost around 3500 dollars today, down from five thousand in better times, and aging vessels are used to haul goods around the city. Freight is managed by scalpers who broker deals at ends of the line. boats are restricted to about 100 tons up and 250 tons down.
The canalboat season runs May to December with loads of grain and general merchandise. Tow boats, wharfage fees, and tolls shape the river trade as crews endure long shuttles, passenger decline, and Dickensian memories of canal life. Fifty to one hundred boat tows form floating urban corridors, while winter busyness shifts to New York basins and shore trades.
Old engineer Charley Fraser explains rail speeds to a New York Sun reporter atop locomotive No 309 near Rutherford Park. He says trains travel about 35 miles per hour, not a mile a minute, and notes the dramatic differences between local and express speeds. He recalls a childhood mile a minute ride on a six foot wheel locomotive, the fastest he ever rode.
Covington Iowa- Missouri river town erodes away at bank with fast current eating land. In five years river has moved closer, several buildings moved back and some land washed away. Ferry house and principal hotel example show rapid loss. town removes structures to rollers as banks vanish.
A Chinese physician places the patient’s arm on a cushion and uses three fingers on the wrist to feel the nine pulses per hand. He elevates and depresses each finger in turn during a set number of respirations, then immediately prescribes and administers medicine on the spot, departing only when summoned again.
Fifty elephants figure in the Cooper Bailey show with trainer Professor George Artingstall. The piece recounts Betsy the First, the first U.S. elephant, its death, and training methods, including Craven’s system and the keeper’s discipline. It details elephant behavior, cruelty myths, and tales from Kansas City to New York.
The text explains that sunlight takes about eight minutes to reach Earth, so we do not see the sun until eight minutes after it has risen and we continue to see it for about eight minutes after it has set due to this light travel time.
A lyrical verse urges a young girl to embrace eternal youth in spirit. It uses rose imagery and seasonal growth to claim that life’s vigor deepens as age recedes, with love and blessing sustaining the soul. The excerpt cites Lucy Larcom from St Nicholas.
Three men John McCullough John T Raymond and William H Crane lured a sleeping Raymond into a gasless billiard room near Union Square New York They banged balls shouted scores and pretended blindness Raymond cried out in distress thinking he was blind after the prank The Philadelphia Times notes the episode as a cruel joke gone wrong
Wax serves many roles from embalming and religious ceremonies to glossy finishes and rust prevention. It aids papermaking, textiles, polishing, wax figures, and coatings for sails. U S production totals 20 million pounds annually with value near 6 million dollars. exports around 0.7 million and honey exports about 1.2 million. Combined honey and wax value approaches 15 million dollars.
A mixed page offers practical tips from quicklime use on flowers to lime and mulch for orchards. It mixes advice on practical farm practices, oil remedies for burdock, milking efficiency, manure use, renovation of aging trees, and pest control insights. It also covers corn versus grass rationale, oxalic acid cautions, pantry and household hacks, and potato bug life cycle with timing for control.
A collection of curiosities includes 287 labor strikes in England in 1878, 600 U.S. coast lighthouses, 40 Auburn prison lawyers, and 48,000 destitute children sent West. Other notes cover telegraph growth, petroleum impact, Arctic and African stories, and exotic warfare rumors from Siam to Borneo.
The document catalogs state nicknames such as Alabama Lizzards Arkansas Toothpicks California Gold Hunters Colorado Rovers Connecticut Wooden Nutmegs Delaware Muskrats Florida Fly up the Creeks Georgia Buzzards Illinois Suckers Indiana Hoosiers Iowa Hawkeyes Kansas Jayhawkers Kentucky Corn Crackers Louisiana Crewes Maine PORES Maryland Craw Thumpers Michigan Wolverines Minnesota Rose Tadpoles Massachusetts Pomoo Nukes Nebraska Bug Eaters Nevada Sage Hens New Hampshire Granite Boys New Jersey Blids New York Knickerbockers North Carolina Tar Heels Ohio Buckeyes Oregon Beavers Rhode Island Gunboat Rhode Island Weasels Pennsylvania Penns, Texas Beef Heads Vermont Gren Mountain Beers Virginia Beadles Wisconsin Badgers.
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